Michael John Basman (16 March 194626 October 2022) was an English chess player and author. He was awarded the title of

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

in 1980.

Chess career

Once described by Murray Chandler as "the most bizarre player in the universe", Basman was well known for employing unorthodox openings. Among these were the following: *The

Grob Grob may refer to: * Grob Aircraft, a German aircraft manufacturer * Grob fragmentation, an elimination reaction between an electrofuge and nucleofuge on an aliphatic chain * GrOb or Grazhdanskaya Oborona, a Russian punk band * Grob Gob Glob Grod, ...

(for

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

), which begins with g4. Basman wrote ''The Killer Grob'' (1989) about this opening. *The Creepy Crawly (for White), which begins with h3, followed by a3 and c4. *The Borg Defence (for

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

), which employs g5 as a response to e4. As the name suggests, this is essentially the mirror image of the Grob. ("Borg" is "Grob" spelt backwards.) *The St. George Defence (for Black), which employs a6 as a response to e4. Basman wrote ''Play the St. George'' (1983) and ''The New St. George'' (1993) about this opening. Basman used the Grob to defeat

John Nunn John Denis Martin Nunn (born 25 April 1955) is an English chess grandmaster, a three-time world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician. He is one of England's strongest chess players and was form ...

in 1978 and the Borg Defence to defeat Jon Speelman in 1980. Possibly his greatest tournament success was when he tied for first place in the

British Chess Championship The British Chess Championships are organised by the English Chess Federation. The main tournament incorporates the British Championship, the English Chess Championships and the British Women's Chess Championship so it is possible, although it ha ...

of 1973, although he lost the play-off match with

William Hartston William Roland Hartston (born 12 August 1947) is an English journalist who has written the Beachcomber column in the ''Daily Express'' since 1998. He is also a chess player who played competitively from 1962 to 1987 and earned a highest Elo ra ...

. During the 197475 Hastings tournament, Basman (playing Black) defeated the Swedish grandmaster

Ulf Andersson Ulf Andersson (born 27 June 1951) is a leading Swedish chess player. FIDE awarded him the International Master title in 1970 and the Grandmaster title in 1972. Chess career At his peak, Andersson reached number four on the FIDE rating list. ...

in a match that became known as the "Immortal Waiting Game". After the twelfth move, Basman shuffled his bishop, king, and queen back and forth for twelve moves, not changing his position at all. Andersson overextended himself, and Basman won. In 1975, England contested a match over ten boards against France in Luton. Basman played board one, ahead of John Nunn and Jon Speelman. In 1996, Basman created the UK Chess Challenge, a tournament for juniors of all standards and ages progressing over four stages, now advertised as the biggest chess tournament in the world.

Raymond Keene Raymond Dennis Keene (born 29 January 1948) is an English chess grandmaster, a FIDE International Arbiter, a chess organiser, and a journalist and author. He won the British Chess Championship in 1971 and was the first player from England t ...

once wrote, referring to Basman's promotion of youth chess, "Michael Basman is in many ways the most important person in British chess."

Personal life

Basman was born in

St Pancras, London St Pancras () is a district in North London. It was originally a medieval Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the are ...

, on 16 March 1946, the third of four children of John Onik Basman, an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

immigrant, and his English wife, Bridgette Bettina Basman,

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Marks. John Basman had shortened the family name from Basmadjian after arriving in England. The family knew the singer

Cleo Laine Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth (born Clementine Dinah Hitching; 28 October 1927) is an English singer and actress known for her scat singing. She is the widow of jazz composer and musician Sir John Dankworth and the mother of bassist Alec D ...

, who worked as a babysitter for the young Michael. After graduating with a degree in history from the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

, Basman received a scholarship to study medicine in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

in the

Armenian SSR The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ArSSR), also known as Soviet Armenia, or simply Armenia, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union, located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Soviet Armenia bordered the Soviet republics ...

. However, an aversion to blood and operations caused him to abandon his studies. Whilst living in Yerevan, he learnt

, won the local chess championship, and met a fellow student named Berdjouhi Kuiumdjian, whom he married. They had one child together (a son named Antranig Basman), but divorced in 1986. After returning to England, Basman worked as a computer programmer at the Chessington Computer Centre. His creation of the UK Chess Challenge in 1996 led to a dispute with the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

, which claimed he ought to be collecting

VAT A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...

on entry fees. In 2016, he was found to be personally liable for the back taxes due, and was ordered to pay . He was declared bankrupt the following year and lost control of the UK Chess Challenge. He stood as an

independent candidate An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have polit ...

in the constituency of

Kingston and Surbiton Kingston and Surbiton () is a Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency in Greater London created in 1997 United Kingdom general election, 1997 and represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of C ...

in the 2017 general election. His manifesto was described by

as "a curious blend of selective support for

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...

-style intervention combined with extreme

libertarianism Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according t ...

". He finished last of seven candidates, with 100 votes (0.2%). He died in

Carshalton Carshalton ( ) is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated around southwest of Charing Cross and around east by north of Sutton town centre, in the valley of the Rive ...

on 26 October 2022, at the age of 76, from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

Publications

* * * * * * * * *

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Basman, Michael 1946 births 2022 deaths Alumni of the University of Leeds Chess International Masters Chess theoreticians English chess players English chess writers English male writers English people of Armenian descent Independent British political candidates People from St Pancras, London Sportspeople from the London Borough of Camden Writers from the London Borough of Camden